


Crimson Debt

by SamJoinedtheReconCorps



Series: A Flame in the Shadows [11]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Hurt, Injury, M/M, Worry, but being too afraid and unsure to make the move, post ep 77, protective!Essek, spoilers for ep 97, the want to comfort, this one was so much fucking fun yall don't even understand
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2020-03-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:20:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23102362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamJoinedtheReconCorps/pseuds/SamJoinedtheReconCorps
Summary: Essek escorts Caleb to interrogate the Scourger before the execution.
Relationships: Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast
Series: A Flame in the Shadows [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1648909
Comments: 20
Kudos: 187





	Crimson Debt

**Author's Note:**

> heyyyy guys, i'm back with a new fic!!! this one is kinda long, and it would have been muuuuch longer, but i ended up deciding to split it into two fics, the other of which I am still working on but honestly I was just WAITING to get to this scene, like fuck when I watched this episode and THAT happened like I was quaking to my core and then Essek went and did THAT and I was like fuck that's hot, so so so fucking hot and yeah so now you get to see where i poured all that excited energy into
> 
> I really hope you guys like it!! Blood and violence as par the course for this particular Critical Role episode!

Essek wonders if he’ll ever get used to Jester’s messages.

“ _ So, we’re heeeere _ ,” she chimes in his head. “ _ Should we come see you? Are you going to come here? Man, we miss you so much. Don’t want to summon you - _ ” She gets cut off, as she usually does, and Essek knows he’ll probably never get used to them.

They’re so different to the messages and summons he receives from everyone else - but that sounds about right for the Mighty Nein. They’re so different from everyone else, but in a way that has made Essek uncharacteristically like them, despite never having planned to.

He’s relieved, obviously, to hear that they’re back - unscathed from the sounds of it. Now he allows himself to admit that he was actually rather worried about having left that at the maw of the dragon’s lair, but if it ended up well - well, then there was no reason to dwell on that anymore.

“ _ Ah, so you have returned _ ,” he answers, already rising from his desk. “ _ Then I will gather myself and head to your abode posthaste. _ ” He’s glad they caught him when he was home and not at the Lucid Bastion - the walk to get there is much quicker from here.

* * *

It doesn’t take long before there’s a knock on the door.

“He’s here,” Jester announces, her tail swishing excitedly.

“I’ll get it,” Nott volunteers, casting  _ mage hand _ and getting the door with ease. The chimes begin to sound as soon as the door opens, much to Caduceus’ delight.

“Well, it is good to see that you have survived your encounter, it would seem, with the, ah, dragon’s den of which I last sent you,” Essek says, in lieu of a greeting. He’s smiling fondly at them all, and Caleb would be lying if he said that the sight didn’t warm him.

“Yeah,” Jester nods. “We are a-ma-zing.”

“Quite successful,” Caduceus confirms.

“A bit of a close shave, but we made it,” Fjord tells him, offering a bit more insight on how it went. Essek’s eyes drifted to Fjord as he spoke, and Caleb could see the way that his brow raised quizzically, taking in Fjord’s subtle changes.

“Good,” Essek hums, still eyeing Fjord curiously.

Caleb gets in a quiet, “Good at improvising,” and now Essek’s eyes are on him.

“The dragon’s name was Gelidon,” Beau explains, and Caleb wonders curiously if her aversion to authority may buckle when that authority is a friend. She’s not one to give away more information than necessary, yet right now she seems open to telling Essek more than is relevant for him to know.

“Never even saw us there,” Jester grinned.

“Well,” Caduceus prompted, giving Jester a pointed look.

“Mostly,” both Jester and Caduceus said, one after the other.

“Somewhat, a little,” Caduceus shrugged.

“Still, very impressive,” Essek told them, looking around at the group. “Ah, not many have done what you’ve done and come back unscathed, it seems.” His eyes settle on Caleb. “I’m impressed myself.” He holds his gaze for a beat, and there’s a proud shine in his eyes that makes Caleb want to stand up straighter even as he feels a low blush crawling up his neck. “So,” Essek says, looking to the rest of the group again, “what is it you’ve summoned me for?”

“Well,” Caleb starts, and he’s glad that his voice is so steady. “We have been running our errands and we are back. We feel it has been awhile since we have, ah, checked in with the - the Queen, and yourself, um, and we mean to be of use, if we may.”

The impressed look is still on Essek’s face, his lips tugging into an easy smile, but at his words there’s a spark of something other that Caleb can’t quite place.

“And I hope -” Caleb continues, but Jester cuts him off, holding her hands in front of her.

Her eyes are big and bright, and Caleb knows that whatever comes out of her mouth is going to be completely genuine. “And I want to say a big thank you again for, you know, taking us to where we need to go. I just want you to know that, but okay, keep going.” She gestures at Caleb.

“No, it’s fine,” Caleb nods, glad that she said what he would be tripping all over himself to say to Essek to express his gratitude.

“Of course,” Essek says softly, and the way he says it soothes some of Caleb’s anxieties.

Still, he barrels on. “Our track record has been a little less stellar than I would have liked, but would I hope that this encounter with a white dragon would spea-”

“Wait, what?” Beau interrupts, gruff as always. “We’re fuckin’ great.”

Before she says something else or he responds to her words, Fjord steps in, getting things back on track with a quick look to Beau. “Well, we also haven’t heard about any reports from, you know, our last incident.”

Beau at least looks a little more sheepish when she gives a small “oh.”

“We were curious if there had been any word of any sight of the Laughing Hand or this creature?” Caduceus asked, picking up Fjord’s thread.

“At this point, no,” Essek answers with a shake of his head. “We have been, ah, researching and putting out, uh, requests for any sort of sightings of the creature that you had mentioned, as well as perhaps this individual that was once among you.” He gives a tired sigh. “None have come back, but we are indeed looking, so do not worry.”

“And, to be clear, did you send anyone to the location that we mentioned?” Fjord tried to hide his nervousness as he asked the question, but even if he was stronger now as the Wildmother’s Champion he was still the same old Fjord. “I mean, certainly there must have been some sort of remnant or sign that they were there.”

“There were indeed signs within the interior of this King’s Cage that you mentioned,” Essek confirmed. “However, there was no sign beyond the exit and what winds and sands of the Barbed Fields have washed away what symbols or footsteps may have led us in their direction. But we are looking, do not worry.”

“I think we are also possibly curious about, um -” Caleb pauses for half a second. This is a huge gamble, a big task that they aren’t sure how they’re going to pull off, but it was only a matter of time before it came to this. “- the Queen mentioned beacons still within the Empire and if we can, perhaps, steal the breath from a dragon,” he drops his gaze for a beat before meeting Essek’s gaze again. “It stands to reason that we could help with those as well.”

Essek goes from listening attentively to calculating, and Caleb is distinctly reminded that Essek Thelyss is the Shadowhand of the Dynasty. A very, very dangerous man indeed.

“Good, so you are now in a place to call in some of the debt,” Essek says, and there’s an intensity in his eyes that gives way to more but Caleb can’t figure it out. Caleb has always felt that he could read people fairly well, but Essek is a book in a foreign tongue that he desperately wants to learn.

“Yes,” Nott nods.

“Indeed,” Caleb confirms, giving a small incline of his head.

His eyes don’t leave Caleb, and Caleb has the secret hope that they never do. “Good,” Essek repeats. “There is indeed one beacon that still remains in the grasp of the Empire. We have numerous ways of pushing toward that goal.” He eyes the group, that calculating look on his face again. “However, should you have been careful in your dealings, you have a little more reach within the Empire than someone such as I would, of course.” He gives a nod, almost to himself. “I would request, on the behalf of the Bright Queen, to see if you can discover where this beacon is being held.” His eyes drift to Caleb, looking him up and down, sizing him up - making Caleb’s skin burn in the best way.

“Okay,” Jester accepts.

“I get the sense that perhaps you’ve had some encounters with, ah, members of the Academy - maybe the Assembly? Or at least of people who can connect you? From what we understand, they seem to be,” he pauses for a half beat, and his cool demeanour seems to crack when it's back just as quickly leaving Caleb feeling like he must have imagined it. “- directly involved in the acquisitions of the beacons and most likely hold or know where the current one is being held.” He squares his shoulders. “If you could bring us this information, you may be aiding in bringing an end to this conflict sooner than later.”

“Have you any ideas of individuals?” Caleb forces himself to ask. He can already imagine who the list will consist of.

“Well, I could name off the Assembly for you, if you’d like. But I get the sense you already know them,” Essek finishes, looking at Caleb almost as if challenging him. Essek is right, though, Caleb does know them. He knows some of them really, unspeakably, well.

He tries to keep his face blank as he answers, “I am familiar,  _ ja _ .” He takes a deep, steadying breath. “We do have, um, ties in the Empire.”

Essek hums another quiet, “Good.”

“Some connections,” Caleb says. “In all these rumors that you are parsing out, um, is there any area of the Empire in particular you’ve heard of this thing being seen last?”

“Unfortunately, such information changes,” Essek tells him, giving an apologetic look. “You see, they know as well as I do that it’s dangerous to keep it in one place for more than a period of time. Such a central artifact would be moved often, most likely. So, your guess is as good as mine - but, should you learn this information, for this reason, you need to let us know soon.”

“Do you happen to have any other teams on this, um, sort of an - quest?” Fjord speaks up, prompting Essek to look at him, breaking his intense eye contact with Caleb.

“Oh, we have a - a few spies throughout, yes,” Essek nods, although he seemed hesitant with that information.

“Any way that we would be able to identify them just in case we happen to cross each other’s paths?” Fjord asks.

“Not at all,” Essek smiles, with a confidence befitting the Shadowhand.

“I figured,” Fjord shrugged.

“What about that prisoner that they’re keeping, Caleb?” Nott chimes in, and just hearing that, what he’d been meaning to ask but that he’d been too afraid to bring up, makes his skin crawl with nerves. “Would - would that be a place to start?”

“Couldn’t hurt,” he gets out, wringing his hands to keep them from going to his coat sleeves to scratch anxiously.

“You have a couple more days before the execution is carried out, so I would recommend you doing what you are looking to do soon,” Essek suggests, sounding a little softer, a little gentler.

“Ah - if today works, I will do it today,” Caleb says even as his fear makes him want to run and hide from ever having to go speak to the Scourger again.

Essek gives him a small nod. “I could escort you.”

There are a few beats of silence before Caduceus speaks up, “You - you want help?”

“You want some company?” Jester adds.

“Uh,” Caleb starts, touched and heartened, loosening his vice like grip on his hands. “Definitely someone,  _ ja _ .”

“I’ll come with you,” Jester offers.

Caduceus isn’t far behind. “I’d be happy to as well.”

“Alright,” Caleb whispers, giving his friends a long look that he hopes they understand as his unspoken gratitude.

“Are you gonna threaten her?” Nott asks.

“I’m going to talk to her,” Caleb answers honestly. Even if he wanted to, he thinks he’d be weak in the last moment - he’d see too much of his old friends in her. Or maybe he’d see too much of himself and rip into her without mercy. He wasn’t sure which one was worse.

Nott gives him a small nod. “Alright.”

Caleb finally turns to Essek, catching the way that he’s watching him intently - a soft, sad look in his eyes.

“No time like the present,” Caleb chokes out.

“Very well, then,” Essek says, already turning, “Come with me, Widogast.”

As they’re leaving, Fjord, Beau, and Nott also decide to tag along - moral support and comfort should Caleb need it. Caleb thinks he might have cried if he wasn’t so gripped by terror.

“Ah, a party, then,” Essek comments. He doesn’t look annoyed or bothered, he actually looks glad that they’re all going. “Well come, we leave immediately.”

Falling into step behind Essek, Caleb feels his friends all coming to stand around him - a small protective circle, just to keep him safe. And, despite heading to a meeting that can only bring up more painful memories, Caleb feels himself settle, his heartbeat falling closer to it's normal rhythm. He focuses on Essek’s back as he leads them through the Firmaments and towards the Dungeon of Penance, thinking that as long as he has his friends around, maybe he has nothing to fear.

* * *

Essek wanted to absolutely throttle himself. What was that insane gamble? Telling them the Assembly had  _ direct _ involvement with the acquisition of the beacons? Telling them that they were constantly moved to keep from being traced?  _ Tasking _ them with the job of finding where the other beacon was?

What was Essek thinking? And why was Essek baiting  _ Caleb  _ of all people, Caleb, arguably the smartest member of the Mighty Nein and one of the brightest wizards he’d ever met, with tracing through the members of the Assembly to find the beacon? Was Essek  _ trying _ to get Caleb to trace all the incriminating lines that led back to him?

And to top it all off, the Assembly seemed to have some inkling about the Nein’s existence - what was he fucking doing sending them into the maw of the lions den? Were they to be a sacrifice for his sins?

No, he tells himself forcefully. They are much stronger and smarter than he’s giving them credit for. They went into a  _ dragon’s  _ den and survived, didn’t they? They were hunting undying champions of malevolent gods, heading off an Abyssal plague that seemed to be threatening their plane - a handful of cocky, stuffy, old mages, with all their fancy tricks, would be child’s play in comparison to plane consuming dangers. He believed in the Mighty Nein - he believed in Caleb.

Besides, he tells himself. This gamble might pay off - sending them to find the beacon makes him much less of a suspect if they ever start to suspect there might have been Dynasty involvement in the beacon theft. Why would he have tasked them with finding the beacon if he’d been the one that stole it? This was both a way to stay true to his duties as the Shadowhand and their handler while also covering his tracks. It was perfect - right?

Right.

With a sigh, he glanced back at the group to make sure they were still following him through the Dungeon of Penance. What was said was said, and there was no walking that back now. And besides - right now Caleb was the priority. Caleb, who seemed to be shrinking into the familiar folds of his coat the further they got into the prison. Caleb, who seemed absolutely shaken at coming to interrogate the prisoner, despite being so insistent in his request.

It made Essek worry.

He stands in front of the cell, watching as Caleb walked past him to glance into the small hole that allowed them to view into the cell. He looks uncomfortably tense, his movements stiff and mechanical - but Essek can still see that he’s shaking.

“Um,” Caleb starts, stepping away from the door and turning to Essek. “Would you trust me enough to enter the cell with her?”

Glancing at the guards, they nod.

“I just would recommend nothing funny,” Essek tells him, trying for a reassuring smile. “Um, for a - should such things occur…” He leaves the rest unsaid.

Caleb nods solemnly. “I would not jeopardize our place here in the Dynasty.”

Essek mirrors the movement. “I would hope you would not. And you seem like a upstanding practitioner of the arcane arts with interests in the greater mysteries of life, that you would not, ah, throw your life away so quickly.” And even though he means it as a warning to Caleb, he feels that it also rings true for him too. “Open the door,” he commands the guards, if only to move past the suffocating silence that had fallen between them, a silence heavy with things unspoken and charged sentiments.

The door opens with a creak, revealing the Scourger woman chained to her chair. She’s facing the door although her head hangs forward, with her hair obscuring her face. She’s pale and gaunt and emaciated in a way that still makes Essek’s stomach turn, no matter how many times he’s seen a similar sight as the Shadowhand. Abstract violence committed against faceless, unnamed enemies is something easy to swallow, but seeing it - it's different. He thinks the day that he meets this kind of sight with indifference will be the day he’s truly lost himself.

He extends a hand, allowing Caleb to go into the room.

Without a word Caleb steps inside, moving to sit directly in front of the prisoner - a safe distance away, at least. Jester steps in quietly behind him, going to stand against the wall by the door, behind Caleb. She keeps her head down, but Essek knows that she’s listening intently. Caduceus waves a hand, muttering something under his breath before his visage shimmers, leaving in his place a drow guard. A clever use of  _ disguise self _ to make sure the prisoner stays in line - Essek can appreciate that.

The  _ disguised _ Caduceus also joins on the other side of the door, mimicking Jester.

Then Caleb starts talking - in Zemnian, Essek realizes when he hears the strange consonants and syllables. He hears something that sounds like a name -  _ Bren Aldric Ermendrud _ \- and what sounds like a hesitant question.

And, to Essek’s surprise, the woman responds. Also in Zemnian, but she responds all the same.

Caleb says something else, a quiet back and forth before the woman looks up, one of her eyes staring at Caleb intently from beneath greasy, dirty hair. She gives him a rotten smile, but Caleb doesn’t seem to rise to whatever her bait is.

He’s composed - as much as he can be, aside from the faint tremors in his hands that Essek can see thanks to his darkvision. Their conversation is quiet, with long pauses in between sentences. It feels almost like a confession, that silent, loaded air in between every breath of sin. Essek wants to look away, but he knows he can’t - if he doesn’t understand what’s being said, he has to watch to know what’s happening.

There are more names - Astrid and Eodwulf - and the way Caleb says them makes them sound like a hollow breath, gone just as quickly as they’ve come, the relief in it almost nonexistent.

Taking a shaky breath, Caleb shakes his head. He says something else to the woman, and the woman leans forward, the chains growing taut where they hold her back. She says something under her breath, something quiet but murderous and it rings loud to Essek - and then the sound of a chain slackening rings even louder.

The Scourger strikes like a viper, her arm arcing forward at an insane speed. Caleb is quick too, getting out the  _ counterspell _ incantation almost instantaneously - but the woman’s movements don’t stop as it becomes apparent too little too late that she’s not casting anything.

Essek feels like everything has slowed as he sees the jagged piece of metal she holds in her hands - as she stabs it down with vicious ferocity into the skin of Caleb’s throat, right above his clavicle. There’s a bright spray of blood that slicks her hands and her face as she pulls her arm back, already moving to plunge it down again -

Everything that happens next is a flurry of movement. Jester shouts out to Caduceus as Caleb smacks the woman across the face with something from his pocket, his other hand pressing down on the wound in his neck. Jester pushes the woman back with her shield as Caduceus wraps an arm around Caleb, dragging him back and away from the Scourger as she falls back onto the chair heavily from Jester’s shove. The guards also move in, peppering her with crossbow bolts as Caleb lets out a weak, “Wait!”

His voice stills Essek as Essek realizes that he’s lifted the woman out of the chair, his hand outstretched in front of him, moving to squeeze the life out of her. Trickles of blood pour out of the corners of her mouth but it is  _ nothing _ compared to the blood that’s draining out of Caleb.

He turns to Caleb stiffly, chancing a glance at him. Caleb slowly pulls away from Caduceus, his fingers still at his throat now painted crimson as the blood continues to flow from the wound. He limps towards the woman, clearly dizzy from the loss of blood, getting less than a foot away from her.

Slowly, he lifts an open hand, then closes it tightly.

Essek instantly reads Caleb’s silent request, shutting his own fist without hesitation. The woman’s torso caves in with the sickening sound of bones breaking and the wet sounds of tearing flesh as the chains screech from where they’re being pulled from the walls. He drops her to the ground in a limp, mangled pile, just as Caleb coughs out blood, his knees buckling.

Caduceus rushes forward, catching Caleb and applying pressure to the wound as Caleb’s hand slips from his neck.

“You got any healing spells with that pressure, Cad?” Beauregard asks sharply, high strung from her shock and worry.

“We can’t do them in here, we got to -” Caduceus starts, shifting Caleb in his arms as Caleb tries to stay on his feet.

“Move him out, here -” she says, finally stepping inside the cell to help Caduceus with Caleb.

Veth has also run inside, and now she flits around at the edge, worried and scared, her yellow eyes wide at all the blood. “We can’t - we can’t do it in here?”

“Out of the cell, out of the cell,” Beauregard repeats.

“Essek, can we -” Jester asks, and hearing her address him directly makes him wrench his eyes away from Caleb.

“Why not?” Veth gets out, wringing her hands anxiously.

“Can we heal him - can we heal him?” Jester finishes, standing in front of Caleb, her hands hovering over him as she waits for Essek’s permission.

Not trusting his voice, Essek gives them a nod and a quick gesture with his hands.

“We can heal him - we can heal him,” Jester rushes out.

“Thank you,” Caduceus says quietly, still holding Caleb. The hand that he has at Caleb’s neck begins to glow a verdant green, and as Caduceus removes his hand a layer of pink lichen remains that quickly loses its color before falling away, revealing a still bloody, although now mostly closed, wound.

Jester gives a determined nod before she lightly touches the area around it, and now the green that flows through her fingers is a vibrant shade as what look like brushstrokes heal over the tender skin of Caleb’s throat.

Essek feels himself breathe once he sees that the wound is completely healed, but the amount of blood is still terrifying - so much red that Essek is afraid to think about what may have been if the Scourger had managed to plunge the jagged metal into Caleb again.

“That took an unexpected turn,” Fjord comments, an immense understatement to summarize what just happened.

“I kind of saw that whole thing coming, not gonna lie,” Beauregard admits. She has blood on her arms and on the front of her shirt from where she’d helped Caduceus carry Caleb for a bit.

“Did - did she - are you okay?” Veth asks, looking up at Caleb’s face. “Did she give you any useful information?”

“Oh, yes,” Caleb croaks out, his voice a wheeze, completely destroyed after the attack.

“Yes?” Veth repeats.

He gives her a weak nod. “Oh, yes.”

“Do you have anything else you want to talk to her about?” Caduceus says, the question quiet as he waits for Caleb to take a few breaths.

“I don’t think she’s going to hear it,” Fjord tells him, staring at the slop of a corpse that the two guards are still pointing loaded crossbows at.

Caleb straightens himself, holding onto Caduceus for support. “I don’t think she would be willing though.”

“That can always be handled,” Caduceus answers airily.

“Oh,” both Fjord and Caleb say at the same time, before Caleb whispers a quiet, “Yes.”

And Caduceus looks sharp and murderous in a way that Essek has never seen him before - reminding Essek just how much of a grave cleric he is. “Death is just a pause.”

Giving another small nod, Caleb repeats, “Oh, yes.”

“She still might not want to talk,” Veth reminds them.

“It kind of seemed like -” Beauregard starts, but whatever she says is lost as Caleb turns to him.

“Essek,” he gets out, coughing a little and swaying before Caduceus puts a hand on his arm for support. “Would you allow us to use this corpse for an interrogation?”

He gives a pointed look at the guards before his eyes go back to Caleb - Caleb, who is soaked in his own blood, making him look so much paler now, deathly pale, and Essek doesn’t ever want to see him like this again.

“Under our supervision, quickly, and do not mention that I allowed this to anybody,” he tells him. He gives the guards one more look. “And that goes for you as well.” He’s seething, furious - the guards should have known if the prisoner had been up to something, if she’d gotten loose or fashioned some kind of weapon. This  _ shouldn’t _ have happened.

“If you give me a day,” Caduceus says, looking down at Caleb.

“For - to speak with her?” Caleb asks.

“I just need a head,” Caduceus nods.

“Oh,” Caleb whispers. Then he turns to Essek, “Oh, I’m sorry, I thought my friends were prepared.”

Caduceus gives a small bow. “I wasn’t ready to do it immediately, but -”

“We could take her head with us,” Jester suggests. Veth wrinkles her nose.

Even though Essek wants to grant it, even though he wants to help Caleb, allowing that would raise too many questions with answers that the Dynasty would not like. He already knew he would have a lot of explaining to do after he turned her innards into pincushions for her bones.

“Unfortunately, no,” Essek shakes his head. “This, um, this needs to be notified immediately to the rest of the dens, and the body needs to be produced. So if there’s something you cannot do now, I’m afraid it cannot be done.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Caleb says, and his voice is thick, as if it were difficult for him to speak. He takes a few steps away from Caduceus, getting closer to Essek. “But we would find information in a way that we were not just able to do. I think that we could speak to her.” He gestures towards Caduceus, “I have seen him do it.”

“Are you attempting to speak to the corpse?” Essek asks, maybe a little too sharply - but he can’t help it, he’s shaken and reeling and there’s so much blood,  _ Caleb’s _ blood -

“Yes,” Caduceus answers behind Caleb, but Essek can’t take his eyes off the blood on Caleb’s throat.

“As her master, yes,” Caleb whispers.

“Then I cannot allow it,” Essek forces himself to say. “That is standard procedure after execution and the body cannot be utilized in the same way again.” He glances to Caduceus briefly, to make sure he understands. “If they attempt to make the body available for such a ritual and it does not work, they will know that it has been done in advance. Which will lead them to me, which will lead them to you.”

And then they won’t only be in danger from the Empire - the Dynasty may be quick to act as well.

“Can’t we just request to be in the room when they do it?” Beauregard asks, crossing her arms.

Essek gives a humorless laugh - a huff of air that escapes his lips with everything he wishes he could say and do but that he can’t. “I think that may be stepping beyond the bounds of which your, ah, arrangement here is -”

“That seems fair,” Fjord cuts in with a nod.

Caleb tries to nod as well before his knees buckle again, and this time it's Essek who catches him, one hand coming to hold his arm while the other is steady at his back. He looks down at Caleb as he finishes, “ - situated, my apologies. I want to help as much as I can but -” His hold on Caleb tightens. “There are limitations.”

“You know she - I think she did this intentionally,” Caduceus says, looking at the body. “I think this was -”

“Well, yeah,” Jester agrees as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Caduceus turns to her. “Well, I mean, all things considered, it’s a clever way of making sure you can’t ask any more questions.”

“She was also waiting for this opportunity,” Fjord points out, and that makes a flash of anger flare in Essek. He’d thought of the same thing.

“What if she knows where the beacon is now?” Caleb whispers, looking up at Essek.

“Then we will find it from the body,” Essek promises. “But you can’t be the ones to do it. There is protocol, and the last thing you need is anything like this to be traced back to me or you.”

“You’ve been more than generous,” Fjord says, with Jester agreeing with a quiet, “You really have.”

“Very much so,” Caleb says quietly, and Essek feels the ghost of his breath dance across his jaw. He then pulls away from Essek slowly, gently, and Essek lets him, although he has a gravity spell at the ready just in case.

Caleb goes up to the body, kneeling down in front of it. With a tenderness Essek would have never afforded someone who had tried to take his life, Caleb brushes the hair out of her unseeing eyes. He whispers something in Zemnian to her, and it almost sounds like an apology. 

Silence falls on them for a few seconds before Caleb says, “I think we are done here.”

“I think we are,” Essek agrees, letting gravity lighten around Caleb, not enough for him to notice the spell, but enough to make it easier for Caleb to get to his feet.

Caduceus gets close, and when Essek sees that he’s approaching the body rather than Caleb he gives a small warning. “Careful. You do have to leave soon.”

“Of course,” Caduceus answers.

“No funny business,” Essek reiterates.

“Nothing funny,” Caduceus assures. He picks up the woman’s arm, holding it limply in his grasp. Jester gravitates over, giving Essek a small look before watching over Caduceus’ shoulder. “Caleb,” Caduceus calls out after a second.

“Yeah,” Caleb says carefully.

“Is this the same thing that happened to you?” he asks.

Essek can see the scars that Caduceus is referring to, and he can picture the ones on Caleb’s arms as well - identical scars, multitudes of them, long healed over. Scars inflicted on children.

Caleb looks away. “Yes, all of his…” he trails off, before in a whisper he finishes, “students.”

Caduceus nods.

“I think we should get out of here,” Beauregard tells them.

It almost looks like Caleb is relieved when he agrees, “Yes.”

“One last thing,” Fjord says, stepping in and putting a protective arm around Caleb’s shoulders. “Did she just manage to break that chain, or file it down, or? It seemed like she was under lock and key. How did that happen?”

Essek allows some of his anger to leak into his voice as he says, loud enough for the guards to hear, “Yes, I am very curious about that myself.”

“ _ She was under heavy surveillance, _ ” one of the guards responds in Undercommon.

_ “Clearly not enough _ ,” Essek snaps, also in his native tongue.

The guard ducks his head, but continues, “ _ Shadowhand, the same protocols that we always use for prisoners that pose a high threat of danger were used, protocols that have never failed before _ .” He looks up, his eyes darting to the group before meeting Essek’s again _. “The only difference has been these visitors. The man, he performed magic - _ ”

_ “Are you trying to tell me _ ,” Essek starts, feeling a vein pulse in his forehead at his fury. “ _ That he is responsible for this? That he somehow  _ freed _ her so that she could what? Wait to kill him?” _

Dropping his gaze, the guard carries on. “ _ Shadowhand, I am just saying that it is highly suspicious that after their visit and during this next one all of this happened. Maybe they had agreed to -” _

_ “Enough _ ,” Essek growls _. “I will not hear this kind of nonsense and these baseless accusations. This man almost  _ died _ at the hands of a prisoner  _ you _ were watching. I should report you to the Bright Queen for your incompetence. _ ”

The guard steps back to his post, still looking down.  _ “My apologies, Shadowhand. I just thought you should know _ .”

“ _ And you should know that commonly, when people are allied with one another, they do not just stab each other in the throat. Caleb Widogast and the rest of the Mighty Nein had nothing to do with this Scourger’s actions _ ,” Essek finished.  _ “If I hear anyone repeat those sentiments, I will know exactly who began spreading them. _ ” He nodded towards the body.  _ “Do a better job guarding her corpse. There will be Luxon clerics and other den heads coming by shortly. Tell them that I will answer all their questions at the next meeting in the Bright Queen’s chambers. _ ”

They gave him a nod of understanding.

Satisfied as much as he could be, he turns back to the group. “Well, ah, it seems that these Scourgers, these  _ Vollstrecker _ , are, um, well-trained.”

“We should get going,” Veth says, looking to Jester. They share a look and a glance at the body before they both nod.

“Let’s get out of here,” Fjord agrees. He helps Caleb limp out of the cell, keeping close just in case Caleb needs anything.

“Okay, home we go,” Veth announces.

Essek guides them back out of the prison, going slower than his usual pace for Caleb’s sake, turning to look at him where he remains tucked under Fjord’s arm with Beau on the other side and Caduceus bringing up the rear with Jester. Veth is right in front of him, holding his hand loosely.

He wishes he could reach out and give Caleb a reassuring touch of his own, but right now all he can do is get him home - so he’s going to make sure nothing else dares touch him as they make their way through Rosohna.

**Author's Note:**

> oh my gosh guys, this fic was just, man it was fun to write. Having Essek's lowkey freak out about asking them to go find the Beacon and then having him stop for Caleb, writing him being pissed off at the guards - and then having the Nein be all protective like damn this fic had it all for me man I was LIVING it was so much fun to write and the next fic I've got lined up is just
> 
> yeah, its just yeah, you'll have to wait and see!!
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading, and I really hope you guys liked it!
> 
> This fic was inspired by:  
> A Tangled Web | Critical Role | Campaign 2, Episode 77 - 54:00 - 1:26:35


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